Hello
by TallDrinkOfWater
Summary: One shot set after Piper leaves Alex (there's no prison), it's based on Piper's drunk phone call to Alex in s5e12 which is interspersed with the Adele song Hello.


A/N: Hey guys, long time no see eh?!

Well, I couldn't get this little one shot out of my head so, here it is.

It's set after Piper leaves Alex (there's no prison) based on Piper's drunk phone call to Alex in s5e12 which is interspersed with the Adele song Hello.

I don't own any of the characters, or the song. Let me know what you think.

Have at it…

Ring, ring, ring….

BEEP

"Hey, it's Vause. Leave a message."

"Hello, it's me.

I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet, to go over everything.

They say that time's supposed to heal you, but I ain't done much healing."

…..

Ring, ring, ring….

BEEP

"Hey, it's Vause. Leave a message."

"Hello, can you hear me?

I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be, when we were younger and free.

I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet.

There's such a difference between us, and a million miles."

…..

Ring, ring, ring….

BEEP

"Hey, it's Vause. Leave a message."

"Hello from the other side.

I must have called a thousand times, to tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done.

But when I call you never seem to be home.

At least I can say that I've tried, to tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart.

But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore."

…..

Ring, ring, ring….

BEEP

"Hey, it's Vause. Leave a message."

"Hello, this is Piper by the way.

Blast from the past! Do you recognize my voice?

Boy, well, I guess you know things are bad when you're calling old girlfriends from the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, huh?

How are you still in my brain? Where are you? Do you miss me? Probably not.

I miss you.

I don't know what I'm doing."

Alex slid the phone down from her ear, careful to save the latest voicemail message before disconnecting the line. Of course, she missed her, but as she thought back to the beautiful blonde, that familiar ache tightened in her chest and a solitary tear raced down her cheek. She looked to the framed picture showing her 15-year-old self and her mother on her dressing table.

…..

Alex slid into the regular booth at the diner opposite her best friend Nicky.

"Woah Stretch, you look rough, heavy night?"

"She keeps calling Nick, I replay the messages over and over just to hear her voice."

"I mean Vause, come on, haven't you beat yourself up enough yet over Blondie?" Nicky sighed.

Alex lifted her head from the steaming mug of coffee that had been placed before her. She was met with the eyes of Nicky, and to her right the person pouring the coffee, Red.

"I'm worried about her, she said things were bad."

"She abandoned you Vause."

"Do you still love her Alex?" Red interjected in her thick Russian accent.

"I could never stop loving her."

Alex cast her eyes back down to the table.

She felt the warm, protective arm of Red glide around her shoulders. She looked up to the older woman.

"Can you forgive her for leaving you?" Red asked.

Alex looked from the Russian to Nicky.

"I gave her no choice but to leave in the end." Alex sighed.

Red gave a reassuring squeeze of Alex's shoulder.

Nicky piped up "I mean, look at you Vause, you could have any woman you wanted, well with obvious exceptions," Nicky gestured to herself gaining a moment of light relief in the tension that had formed.

"Hell two, three, four, at a time even if you really wanted. But they will never be Blondie" Nicky grinned at Alex who finally matched the wild-haired woman's smile with one of her own.

Alex knew what she had to do.

Red stood ready to go and serve some other customers, sharing her final piece of wisdom with the younger women she cared for like daughters.

"Alex, if you can move past what happened, you have to go for it, we have a saying in Russia, without effort, you won't pull a fish out of a pond."

Alex and Nicky looked to each other, confused as always by the many Russian proverbs Red apparently had to suit any occasion.

"Yeah thanks ma" Nicky called after the retreating Russian, shaking her head in mock response to Red.

Alex, who sat quietly and observed Nicky and Red's interactions, smiled as she downed the coffee in front of her.

Nicky reached into her pocket pulling out an old crumpled scrap of paper from her wallet. She extended her hand with the paper in towards Alex.

The taller woman took the paper, unfolding it in confusion.

Scribbled in Nicky's terrible font was:

POPI Store

105 Main Street

New York City

Alex looked to her best friend; her mouth open in shock.

"She's in the city?"

"She is."

"Nicky how did you even, y'know what, I don't even want to know."

Alex stood as she looked at her best friend in disbelief.

"What can I say? You give good orgasms and women can be very helpful." Nicky shrugged her shoulders and wiggled her eyebrows before throwing a wink to her best friend.

"For once I'm grateful for your teenage boy libido." Alex retorted.

"Go get her Vause, but tell her this from me, she hurts you again I will smack a bitch down."

Nicky pushed the sleeve of her shirt up, curling her arm to display the tiny bicep that was there whilst maintaining her straight face. Alex looked to her, overcome with emotion for her best friend.

Alex shook her head at the shorter woman, still in disbelief, before embracing her for a quick hug and taking off towards the parking lot.

…..

Alex steered her bike into the vacant parking space over the road from the address Nicky had given her.

She looked up, impressed by the arrangement and classy design of the POPI store front. There was a strange sensation she couldn't quite place. Pride. Piper had her own business that seemed to be doing well for itself given the prime location of the store and the flawless store front.

Alex took a deep breath before striding into the store.

It smelled amazing.

Alex's eye was immediately drawn to a stand on the left. The many bath products were delicately placed creating almost a piece of art celebrating the many colours and shapes of the sea and its inhabitants. She reached for the first box of products on the stand and turned it over. The package read;

Enjoy this product, through love, through pain, through beauty fish.

Alex couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face, or the swell of pride and love in her chest, or the adrenalin that surged throughout her body.

"That's our best seller from our latest range." A shrill voice awakened Alex from her reverie.

She turned, caught off guard as the young blonde shop assistant suddenly stood attentively at her side, having silently moved from behind the counter.

Alex looked once more at the box and placed it back down on the stand.

"Is there something or someone specific you're looking for?" The young assistant's high-pitched voice rung in Alex's ears.

"As a matter of fact, there is."

…..

Piper sat in her office behind her large oak desk. She spun her chair to gaze out over the city. She would never tire of the view from the panoramic window that encompassed her office. Below her the rest of the city buzzed with people milling around like ants.

She rubbed her temples, unable to shake the tiredness and headache she'd had all day. All week now. Maybe longer.

Piper knew she'd been hitting the bottle pretty hard recently. Nothing but alcohol would help her fill the empty void she felt constantly in her chest, would nurse her to sleep each night. Her business was the only thing that kept her going so she threw any energy she could muster into that.

Last night was a particularly heavy night. She grimaced as she tried to piece together her night in between opening the new bottle of tequila and her getting to bed. It was too hazy. All she felt was the sting of tears and emptiness as she remembered crying herself to sleep. Not forgetting the cut on her forehead, she must have hit it on the door or something.

A knock at the door triggered her thoughts back to the present.

"Chloe, whatever it is you'll have to deal with it yourself." She shouted towards the door as she reached for the half empty bottle of tequila in her bottom drawer placing it on the desktop.

"It's a little cold out for a margherita don't you think?"

She stopped, frozen.

Was it really so bad that now she was hallucinating?

Her head turned slowly to the root of the noise.

Alex stood in the doorway. Biker boots, skinny black jeans, a grey v neck t-shirt and black leather jacket. Her typical librarian glasses framing those green eyes. The only difference Piper could make out was the lack of blue tips in her hair.

The blonde couldn't look away, afraid if she did the vision would disperse.

Alex! She'd called Alex again last night. She hadn't picked up. Piper blinked slowly; her hungover brain not able to function.

"Is this real?" Was all Piper could muster, afraid for how bad she had allowed herself to get, riddled with guilt over leaving Alex and now obsessing over the older woman.

Alex, suddenly realising the situation Piper was in rushed over to be beside the blonde.

Alex took her shaking hands in both of hers, kneeling to be level with the blonde.

"Pipes, it's me, I'm here."

For the first time Piper raised her chin to look into the deep green eyes of the woman crouched before her. The warmth from her hands slowly seeped into her body and the memorable smell of Alex Vause penetrated her nose once more.

Alex reached with one hand, skimming her thumb lightly over the cut on the blonde's forehead.

Both of them, silently, taking in the other's face as if it was both the first and last time they would ever see it.

Piper was the first to come back to the brunette's eyes. The were just as she remembered. The lust she used to see in them, the pain she had seen in them when she had left.

Tears swelled in the blonde's big blue eyes, falling.

"Alex, it is so good to see you." The blonde breathed out.

Piper slid from her chair, kneeling and mirroring the older woman's position.

She slid her arms around Alex's neck and the taller woman placed her arms around the body in front of her. The fitted together so… Effortlessly. Inevitably.


End file.
